Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Our new pal Andrea has a fun blog she recently shared with us - favorite part?

MINING MONDAYS! Andrea hits thrift spots all over Pittsburgh, including her parents' basement, and as she states, "Somethings are amazing. Somethings are awful. Somethings are hideous. And somethings just need to be shared ..."

Monday, August 30, 2010

I went to Crafts N' At yesterday at Soldiers and Sailors in Pittsburgh and it was wonderful! Three cheers to the Pittsburgh Crafts Collective for their efforts - the foot traffic was steady and it looked like people (myself included) left with bags of goodies.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Red Pop recently sold a set of vintage American Tourister luggage pieces to a soon-to-be-married gal in Wisconsin. She told us of her plans for the all-red set and promised to send along images ...

Carmen and Troy were married this August and took an adventure by train to Chicago for their honeymoon. To be honest, the luggage looks great ... but the beaming bride in red dress and hat looks GORGEOUS! Thanks so much for sending along these photos.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

So I finally got around to hanging one of my favorite posters. I took it to a frame store to have it mounted to Foamcore, but they tried to sell me something more expensive called "Gator-core" - I cannot find anything about it online, but I was told that it is more rigid and longer lasting than standard Foamcore. But it is twice the price!

So to make the Foamcore more rigid I just used some Gorilla Glue and stuck some small pieces of wood on the back. I drilled holes in two of the pieces on the sides and put some framing wire through to hang it.

Monday, August 23, 2010

To some, items like sheets or towels are things that shouldn't be thrifted and re-used for fear of germs, gross stains, bad 1970s patterns ... however, perfectly good and sometimes mint-condition vintage bed sheets and towel sets can be found and given new life (with a good cleaning).

After a solid inspection at a favorite Pittsburgh thrift shop, I found just one fitted bed sheet (above) and frequently use it with a white flat sheet or mix/match with other floral patterns in the same family or with some bright reds (my bedroom happens to be the same color palette as Red Pop Shop's ... coincidence? Maybe).

We started with conquering the Washington County, PA FAIR. Hand-squeezed lemonade, milk chugging contests, hand-made EVERYTHING, cows and chickens galore and RIDES!

The next day brought us to world famous Kennywood Park - a Pittsburgh tradition for over 100 years. Kennywood amusement park is an amazing way to spend a hot summer day and a cool summer evening - so new and cutting edge, yet so retro and old school. Red Pop has been raised on Kennywood, and is grateful for that! (Jason & Michael have season passes ...)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I (Bess) live in a traditional four-square, 1940s home and my rooms aren't terribly large but I do have some great wall space. My living room has a large painting above the mantle and, although I had had another large painting above a love seat on the opposite wall (pictured above), I removed it, thinking two large pieces in one small room were a bit much. Hence the empty wall and sad looking nail in the center ...

For some time now, I had been considering enlarging images of my grandmothers for framing. I'm lucky to have some wonderful photos of both ladies and decided a series of images above this love seat was just the spot!

Project complete ...

Phyllis (above)

Margaret (above)

Needless to say, I'm absolutely thrilled with the result and smile every time I enter the room ...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Just tickled to find the blog FoodBurgh about Pittsburgh eats and dining. Note, it also links to a number of other foodie sites. Not being a "foodie" myself, but an avid diner and drinker, I appreciate these things! Go go steel city ...

Monday, August 16, 2010

As a part of this blog project, we're hoping to feature pals and their spaces and projects, particularly the use of vintage goodies in neat ways.

Our pal Missy B. and her husband live in San Diego and have made their dining room and bar area into something worth drooling over. The two had lived abroad and Missy said she snatched up lots of vintage Swedish, Finnish and Danish furniture and brought it all to her pad in Cali.